Knorr evolves brand to target food obsessives with interactive ‘flavour-matching’ tool

The brand, which is owned by Unilever, is launching the ‘Love at First Taste’ campaign as part of a wider drive to take a more modern approach to communicate with its target audience.

To inform the campaign, created by MullenLowe, Knorr asked 12,000 people in 12 countries what flavour means to them, to get a genuine understanding of the role it plays in everyday life. One of the key findings was that three in four people (78%) are more likely to be attracted to someone who enjoys the same flavours.

In light of the research, the brand created an interactive digital tool that allows users to figure out their flavour preferences, and used it to match up strangers on a first date to see if a shared passion for certain tastes would create chemistry. Knorr has consequently used the footage for its ad.

Knorr is keen to target a new generation of “food-obsessives” who see social media as the place to share recipes, pick up tips from bloggers and vloggers and upload their own creations onto Instagram.

Ukonwa Ojo, senior global director at Knorr, told Marketing Week that the campaign was developed in a bid to “stay relevant” and tap into popular culture.

“We’ve been around for 177 years and we want to make sure we stay relevant for every generation. Food is one of the fastest growing topics on Instagram and YouTube. We want to tap into a zeitgeist in the sense that food culture is pop culture right now, and giving consumers additional tools to help them understand themselves a bit better,” she explained.

Ojo added that the interactive tool, which was created in partnership with IBM, is a new “brand evolution” and that the brand hopes it shareability will reach more people.

“We’ve always geeked out over food and flavour, but merging that with technology and helping people understand their individual preference is a new brand evolution,” she explained.

“As a result [of the campaign tool], we hope we will deepen consumer engagement with the brand, and maybe even reach out to people who weren’t aware of us or might not have considered us. It is also a way to deepen existing relationships.”